The Diary
by Sexidebater
Summary: Draco discovers what a horcrux is and races to save the school. Ginny is going through the worst experience of her life. One-Shot Lame summary, I know.


Suddenly it all made sense to Draco.

The impact that the diary had had on him all through his life.

He didn't even know what a horcrux was until he overheard his father talking to his mother about how he was planning on sneaking the horcrux diary in the Weaslette's cauldron. He had heard the word 'horcrux' and Draco decided to look it up.

He was horrified by what it was. Splitting your soul into pieces in an attempt to achieve immortality. It was a foriegn and terrible concept to Draco.

As he continued to read books in his private library right before Hogwarts started, he stumbled across a diary by Herpo the Foul, who detailed the process of splitting one's soul. Draco was horribly fascinated by the subject.

One of the things he read in another book was how a horcrux could affect the mood of someone who was in close proximity to it.

It made sense as to why Draco had always been moody and foul. He was being affected by the Dark Lord's horcrux.

Draco had to admit that ever since the horcrux had apparently left the mansion, a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He felt like he usually did at Hogwarts, where he wasn't apparently influenced by the horcrux.

Draco admitted to himself that he was almost always mean and foul, but he was worse before Hogwarts and whenever he was home on break. There might have also been lingering effects on him from how long he spent with the horcrux.

It wasn't a heavily studied subject because it was so dark. Very few books talked about it in depth, skimming over the subject. It took a lot of research to find what Draco found.

He wished he could continue his research at Hogwarts, hoping that they would have different books than the ones he found in his private library, but undoubtedly they would all be in the restricted section and Draco doubted that Snape would give him permission to research horcruxes at the ripe age of twelve. Draco rarely lied to Snape, wanting to stay in his good graces. This wasn't something he would lie about.

Draco vowed to do more research over winter break, wanting to find out as much as possible.

Ginny had noticed a change in her mood ever since Flourish and Blotts. Somehow she had gotten a leather bound diary. She figured that it was a secret present from her parents. They didn't have much money so they probably didn't want to make a big deal out of getting her something small.

Ginny loved the diary. It was where she could write down all her thoughts and stressors. It was an escape.

A few weeks into the semester, the book began to talk back to her as she wrote in it, responding to almost all of her words.

At first, it was a shock to Ginny and she didn't write in it for three days, but she was intrigued and eventually caved, returning to the diary and continuing writing in it multiple times a day.

The diary would respond to her ninety percent of the time, offering her advice on making it through her first semester. Ginny felt alone most of the time, in her awkward phase as she struggled to make friends with her classmates. She had a tentative friendship with a Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood, but Luna was relatively weird and Ginny could only handle her in small doses.

Ginny guessed that the diary was haunted by a ghost named Tom, it wouldn't be unheard of in the wizarding world. Her father's nagging of "don't trust anything unless you can see its brain," repeated itself in her head. But Ginny needed this diary to get through the days.

The diary was essentially her closest friend.

_Dear Tom,_

_Today was rough. Professor Snape was overly harsh on me and my potions partner, Colin Creevy, for our pepperup potion. It wasn't a solid red like he instructed us, more of a light-red, a pinkish color. It wasn't terribly off, and still pepped up Colin up, he just didn't have as strong of a reaction as a properly brewed potion would usually have. Snape failed us, even though I think it deserved an acceptable. But Snape is always out to get us. I think he really targets me because I'm a Gryffindor, I'm Ron's sister, and I'm a Weasley. But there is no way to prove the discrimination, so I must suffer. What do you suggest I do to improve my potions grade?_

_Signed,  
Ginny_

_Ginny,_

_I think it is prudent that you follow the instructions VERY carefully. Especially pay attention to how you chop your ingredients. One mistake in the chopping can change the entire outcome of the potion. Make sure that all the pieces are even in length and width. Also, time everything down to the second. You can set your wand to have a timer. Simply say __**statuto tempore**_ _followed by the amount of time you need to set the timer for. Stir carefully and in the right direction. If your arm gets tired, seamlessly switch off with your partner. _

_That is the best advice I can give you. Potions always came easily to me when I was in school. Let me know if you need anymore help in that class. Especially on essays. Simply write whatever you have in this diary and I'll edit it for you. I'm always happy to help you.  
Signed,  
Tom_

_Dear Tom,_

_Thank you for the advice. It is much appreciated. I have an essay due on the properties of unicorn horns in potions due next Friday. I honestly don't even know where to start._

_Ginny,_

_Don't worry, I'll help you._

Draco kept an eye on Ginny Weasley all through the fall semester. Everyday she seemed to withdraw further and further into herself, becoming a recluse.

Draco noticed her always clutching the diary close to her body, refusing to let it disappear from her sight. She wrote in it whenever he saw her in the Great Hall for meals, and he caught her a few times in the library writing in it. It was peculiar, she would write on a seperate piece of parchment, then seemingly reference the diary.

It didn't take Draco long to realize that the diary was talking back to her. It was almost painfully obvious. Ginny was a recluse with few friends, and she was finding solace in a conscious object.

It freaked Draco out, knowing that it was a farce. It would corrupt the poor girl. Draco felt pity for her, knowing that she would soon fall prey to something more sinister.

Then came Halloween, when Mrs. Norris was petrified by something unknown. Draco did all the research he could, trying to solve the mystery in secret.

It was then, while rereading "Hogwarts: A History" for class, that he stumbled across a familiar name.

Tom Riddle. Who then became Lord Voldemort.

Draco did even more research, learning that in 1943, something called the Chamber of Secrets was supposedly opened by the heir of Slytherin, and a beast from within killed a muggleborn student.

The culprit was thought to be a giant spider smuggled in by Rubeus Hagrid, but Draco found that too suspicious. The girl had been immediately killed, no wounds on her body, no sign of trauma. A spider attack would at least leave holes or poison in her bloodstream.

Things weren't adding up to Draco.

Then a few days after Mrs. Norris was petrified, a first year Gryffindor named Colin Creevy was petrified.

Again, things were too fish for Draco. He didn't like this; sure, he didn't like muggleborns, but that didn't mean he wanted them all to die. His original thoughts and ideologies had been influenced by the diary he decided. He was calmer and more level headed now that he knew what had been affecting him. He didn't like things affecting him. He wanted to control his own mind.

Although it wasn't a required reading yet, as Care of Magical Creatures wasn't until third year, Draco delved into Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." He was determined to find the true beast that was petrifying students.

Ginny was having bouts of blackouts. She would be in one place, space out, and find herself in another place. It honestly was scaring her. She didn't know what was going on, so she chalked it up to stress.

Until she woke from her daze, covered in blood on Halloween night.

Something was up, and she couldn't figure it out. She told nobody as she washed the blood off her body, crying in the shower as she scrubbed every inch of her body.

She confided to Tom, telling him how scared she was, how she didn't understand what was happening.

Tom reassured her that it was just stress, and that the blood didn't mean anything. Ginny forced herself to believe him.

She had become even more depressed now that Colin, a close acquaintance was petrified. He always helped her though potions, and they were getting good at it, earning higher marks than before. Tom's advice had really helped her grade.

Now Colin was gone until further notice and Ginny was alone in potions as there were no other single students in the class.

Ginny isolated herself more and more, leaning on Tom's diary even more than before.

Her blackouts got worse, and she was struggling to believe that it was stress related.

Things were quiet until right before Christmas break, when Nearly Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchy were petrified a few days before students were sent home.

Draco continued to pour over books until he found what he was looking for.

He had read the passage multiple times, not understanding what it was saying, until everything clicked the day after the petrification.

A basilisk.

According to Most Macabre Monstrosities:

_"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."__]_

Draco swallowed hard once he had figured it all out. Killing a Basilisk was nearly impossible.

Draco had no idea how anyone except possibly Dumbledore could achieve such a feat.

As soon as Draco arrived home for the holiday, he delved back into the research on Horcruxes and the Dark Lord.

There was something that he was missing, he didn't know what it was, but he couldn't find a link between the Dark Lord and the Chamber of Secrets, other than when he was Tom Riddle, he attended Hogwarts in 1943 when the chamber was first opened.

Draco found himself in the family tapestry room one day. It was a huge family tree of everyone related to the Malfoys, going all the way before the founders of Hogwarts.

It was there that Draco found the missing link.

Looking at Salazar Slytherin, he traced his lineage all the way to the end, with a Tom Riddle as his final descendant.

Everything clicked. Tom Riddle, aka, the Dark Lord, was the heir of Slytherin. And only the heir of Slytherin could open the Chamber of Secrets.

The Dark Lord was possessing Ginny's diary, and had made her open the Chamber of Secrets. There was now a basilisk roaming the castle, harming students.

Draco swallowed hard, and struggled with what to do with this knowledge. He couldn't go to Dumbledore, he didn't trust the man, and Snape would probably be indifferent and tell Draco to stay out of it. And he DEFINITELY couldn't go to his father, his father had set this all up.

Draco was alone in his quandary.

After the holidays, Ginny found herself missing class a lot during her blackouts and receiving a lot of detention.

It was around that time that Tom turned sinister, and encouraged her to do bad things.

Ginny was frightened and on February 10th, she chucked the book into a toilet into the second floor girls lavatory. Sadly, she chucked the book through Moaning Myrtle, which set the ghost off into wails that pierced the castle.

Wails that wound up attracting Harry Potter to the scene and leading him to discover the diary.

Ginny still experienced black outs, and nearly fainted when she saw Harry in the common room with the diary. He hadn't noticed that it was hers, as all her writing had disappeared, and he was oblivious to what she had been carrying all year.

Ginny continued to keep her head down, struggling in class everyday as she had missed a lot of classes before she got rid of the diary.

She wound up in silent tears almost every day during homework, staying in the library so nobody in the common room would notice.

Life was hell for her, and it only got worse once Penelope Clearwater and Hermione were petrified on May 8th.

Draco was desperate to get the basilisk information to someone. He eventually chose Hermione Granger.

Draco had decided that if anyone could defeat the basilisk, it would be wonderboy Harry Potter. By some stroke of luck, he had defeated the Dark Lord the year before, maybe he could defeat him again.

Draco still held the idea that purebloods were superior, but magical blood was magical blood. There was too little of it left in the world to let it go to waste. So if muggleborns had to exist, it was better than letting the magic die out in become inbred.

Draco was conflicted on everything, but one thing he knew was that this wasn't right. This wasn't the way to go about things, siccing a monster on muggleborns. It was horrendous. And all in the name of resurrecting a horcrux, an evil entity.

Draco had to stop it.

He stalked Hermione in the library, trying to figure out how to get the information to her. There was almost no way to get it to her. So Draco decided to be direct.

He walked up to her desk when her back was turned and cleared his throat.

Hermione turned around and glared at him, "Malfoy, can't you see that I am studying?"

Draco took a deep breath and handed her a ripped out sheet of paper from "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

He glared at her, "You did NOT get this from me. This is the monster. Never tell anyone you got this from me. It would ruin me. Understood?"

Hermione took the paper and skimmed it over, gasping softly. Everything clicked in her head and she peered up to thank Draco, only to find that he had already disappeared.

That night, Hermione and Penelope were petrified while peeking around corners with a mirror. Yet the paper remained clutched in Hermione's hand, waiting for the boys to figure things out.

Ginny was shocked to find herself lying in a stone cavern with Harry Potter staring down at her. Fawkes was sitting on his shoulder as they both looked down at her.

"Wh-what happened?" Ginny asked, sitting up slowly.

"You were possessed by Tom Riddle's, aka Voldemort's, diary." Harry said softly. "You released a basilisk on the school. But it's okay, you weren't yourself and nobody died, they were only petrified. We need to get back to your brother and Lockhart as soon as possible.

Ginny glanced around the cavern and found the basilisk laying dead with the Sword of Gryffindor sticking out of its head.

Ginny swallowed hard then began to sob. All the pieces fell together. The black outs happened because she was doing horrid things for Voldemort. The blood was from Mrs. Norris. Everything fell into place. The memories were still choppy, but the ice that had taken place in her heart had finally disappeared, yet it didn't stop her from feeling guilty. It might not have been her fault, but it sure felt like it.

She should have listened to her father. "Don't mess with things unless you can see its brain."

Harry let Ginny cry for a few minutes before telling her to get it together so they could get out of there. Harry led them back to the cave in, where Ron had made headway with the boulders, creating a medium sized hole that was almost big enough to squeeze through. Using Harry's wand, they widened the hole and then Fawkes flew the four of them out of the chamber, all the way to the courtyard, where they were greeted by startled classmates and professors.

Lockhart was shuffled off to the hospital wing while Ginny, Ron, and Harry were all taken to McGonagall's office for questioning where they told their tale.

Ginny broke down again as she described the terrible year she had had, with the blackouts and waking up covered in blood. How she trusted the diary, just for it to become an evil entity.

When they finished, a few owls were sent off, Dumbledore returned, and took the ruined diary from Harry.

Ginny didn't know what happened to the diary after that moment, and she didn't care to know.

Instead, she sunk into the comforting arms of her mother, desperate for affection that she had craved all year. Her father lovingly scolded her on his philosophy about inanimate objects having a conscious.

She returned home a few days later, where she healed and the effects of the diary on her soul waned.

Draco watched Ron, Harry, and Ginny land in the courtyard from behind a pillar. He was honestly relieved that they had made it through their ordeal.

A few hours later, all the petrified people, ghost, and cat were awakened. Everything was right at Hogwarts again.

The tail of Harry's battle in the Chamber of Secrets spread like wildfire, and it only inflated Potter's ego, but Draco was okay with it. Harry had prevented the rise of the Dark Lord once more.

Draco knew that one day, the Dark Lord would return, and that he would be forced to pick a side, but if he could delay that just a bit longer, he would be much happier. He was still young, unprepared for the imminent war that would come.

When Draco returned home, his father was furious that his plan had failed.

Draco never told his father that it was because of him that his father's plan had failed. It was his and Hermione's little secret.


End file.
